Filmic

I Looked at the film (Paris, Texas) and it all sounded E flat
- Ry Cooder

As the Cooder quote above implies, musicians can see films in quite different ways and their creative input at its best enhances and helps shape the feel, mood and tone of the film. Filmic celebrates some of the best of these creative partnerships.

Film may have started out as a silent enterprise, but very quickly music was required: whether to compete for attention in the noisy cabaret halls where early film was projected, or simply because watching a film silently is quite an unnatural and unnerving experience. The arrival of sound in the late 1920s forged a lasting bond that has yet to be broken. As a result, it is very rare now that a film does not have music in some form to shape its meaning, and the creative partnership of music and film has introduced new levels of depth to cinema. Would Hitchcock’s Psycho have been nearly as tense and terrifying without Bernard Herrmann’s brilliant score? And would Herrmann’s score have terrified and stirred us so without Hitchcock’s visual imagination?

The festival went online here on DShed to present a wide range of interviews and articles exploring this fertile intersection between musicians and filmmakers. These include interviews with composer Laurie Johnson (The Avengers, Dr Strangelove) on the music of Bernard Herrmann, Portishead's Adrian Utley talking about Herrmann's score for Taxi Driver, and a host of other content. Plus, Mark Cosgrove, Watershed’s Head of Programme, and Phil Johnson, St. George's contemporary music curator have each compiled a filmic mixtape, detailing their influences and inspirations.

Throughout February and March, Watershed and St George’s presented a season of screenings, events, and live performances. In February, the festival focused on the dazzling music Ennio Morricone created for Spaghetti Westerns and which gave them one of their defining characteristics (along with men with no name, operatic violence and dodgy dubbing!). March sees the focus shift to legendary, multi-Grammy and Oscar®-winning film composer Michel Legrand, who discussed his work at Watershed and performed at St George’s, and whose iconic soundtracks will be the focus of the months Filmic screenings.

So, enjoy listening to the film and watching the music.

Related Links:
Filmic at St George's